Sloppy Mets fall short against Cubs for sixth straight loss as season continues downward spiral

Less than 24 hours after the Mets and Cubs made a trade, the centerpiece of their last major deal issued a reminder of why it aged so poorly for his former team.On a night when the Mets committed two more errors and a pair of unlikely heroes helped them force extra innings, Pete Crow-Armstrong — the former Mets prospect sent to Chicago in the 2021 Javier Báez deal, who has since blossomed into a star — doubled home the winning run for the Cubs in the 10th off Brooks Raley.Eric Wagaman, Brett Baty and Carson Benge couldn’t find a way to get Ronny Mauricio home in the bottom of the frame.

And it sent the Mets to a 4-3 loss as their losing streak extended to six and everything, as it has all year, continued to spiral.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mike Puma about the inside buzz on the Mets.

This time, the Mets found a way to punch back after a pair of errors by Mauricio — or, if the fans at Citi Field had any say in the official scoring, Mark Vientos — and Benge gave the Cubs a three-run lead.Wagaman first stepped into a fastball on the first pitch from Ethan Roberts and sent it over the left field fence and then Jared Young sent a curveball from ex-Met Phil Maton over the right field fence.The lineup was actually able to fix the mess that the defense made and give the worst team in the National League East, who made the first sign of change Wednesday night when they sent starter David Peterson to Chicago after their doubleheader, a chance.

An anomaly emerged instead of the norm.But until that point, Thursday had started to unfold as the worst type of encore for the Mets one night after they committed six errors in a game.

Mauricio one-hopped a throw that Vientos couldn’t scoop, leading to one Cubs run.Benge misplayed a ball off the side wall, allowing it to roll through his legs and bring a second run home.When it all added up at the end of the frame, Freddy Peralta — cruising to that p...